Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs
and practices followed by the Sumerian and Akkadian (Assyrian/Babylonian)
peoples living in Mesopotamia (around the area of modern Iraq) that dominated
the region for a period of 4200 years from the fourth millennium to
approximately the 3rd century AD. Christianity began to take root among the
Mesopotamians in the 1st Century AD, and over the next 300 years the native
religion largely died out. However, it is known that the god Ashur was still
worshipped in Assyria as late as the 4th Century AD and it is rumoured that
Ashurism was still practiced by tiny minorities in northern Assyria (around
Harran) until the 17th Century AD. Commonly thought of as a form of paganism,
Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, worshipping over two thousand different
deities, many of which were associated with a specific city or state within
Mesopotamia such as Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Assur, Nineveh, Ur, Uruk, Mari and
Babylon.

The peoples of Mesopotamia originally consisted of two peoples, the Semitic
Akkadians (later to be known as Assyrians and Babylonians) and the Sumerians.
These peoples were not originally one united nation, but members of various
different city-states. In the fourth millennium BC, when the first evidence for
what is recognisably Mesopotamian religion can be seen with the invention in
Mesopotamia of writing circa 3500 BC, the Sumerians appeared, although it is
not known if they migrated into the area in pre historic times or whether they
were some of the original inhabitants. They settled in southern Mesopotamia,
which became known as Sumer, and had a great influence over the Semitic Akkadian
peoples and their culture. The Sumerians were incredibly advanced, as well as
inventing Writing, they also invented Mathematics, Wheeled Vehicles, Astronomy,
Astrology, The Calendar and created the first City States/Nations such as Uruk,Ur, Lagash, Isin, Umma and Larsa. In the north, in an area known as Akkad,
a civilisation known as the Akkadians arose, who spoke a semitic language that
was distinct from that of the Sumerians who spoke a language isolate.

Gradually there was increasing syncreticism between the Sumerian and Akkadian
cultures and deities, with the Akkadians typically preferring to worship fewer
deities, but elevating them to greater positions of power. In circa 2300 BC the
Akkadian king Sargon the Great conquered all of Mesopotamia, uniting the
Akkadian and Sumerians in the worlds first empire, though this Akkadian empire
collapsed after two centuries. The empire broke up into two Akkadian states,
Assyria in the north, and Babylon in the south. Some time after this the
Sumerians disappeared, becoming wholly absorbed into the Assyrio-Babylonian
population. In around 1800 BC, the king of Babylon, King Hammurabi, conquered
much of Mesopotamia, but this Babylonian empire collapsed a century later due to
attacks from mountain-dwelling people known as the Kassites from Asia Minor.
Also around this time, a leader named Abraham led his people, the Hebrews, out
of Mesopotamia where they appeared to have been living for many centuries.

Assyria became a major power from the 14th Century BC after throwing off the
influence of the Hittites and Mitanni, and the Neo Assyrian Empire was probably
the most dominant power on earth between the 10th Century BC and the 7th Century
BC, with an empire stretching from Cyprus in the west to central Iran in the
east, and from the Caucasus mountains in the north to Nubia and Arabia in the
south, facilitating the spread of Mesopotamian culture and religion far and wide
under emperors such as Ashurbanipal, Tukulti-Ninurta, Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon
II, Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. The empire fell in 608 BC with the death of
Ashur-uballit II after a period of internal strife followed by an attack by a
coalition of Babylonians, Medes, Scythians, Persians and Cimmeriansled by
Nabopolassar of Babylon. During the Neo Assyrian Empire Aramaic became the
lingua franca of the empire, and also Mesopotamia proper. The last written
records in Akkadian were Astrological Texts dating from 78 AD discovered in
Assyria.

In the 539 BC Mesopotamia was invaded by the Persian empire, then ruled by
Cyrus the Great. This brought to an end over 3000 years of Mesopotamian
dominance of the near east. The Persians maintained and did not interfere in the
native culture and religion and Assyria and Babylon continued to exist as
entities, and Assyria was strong enough to launch a major rebellion against
Persia in 482 BC. Then, two centuries later in 330 BC the Greek emperor
Alexander the Great overthrew the Persians and took control of Mesopotamia
itself, bringing Hellenic influence to the region with the Seleucid Empire.
Assyria and Babylonia later came under Parthian, Roman and Sassanid Persian
rule.
Over the next few centuries Mesopotamia saw an influx
of Arabs, Kurds and later Turkic peoples, and people retaining native ethnicity,
culture, customs and language gradually became a minority. This process was
completed by the massacres of native Mesopotamians by Tamurlane in the 14th
Century.

Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, thereby accepting the existence of many
different deities, both male and female, though it was also henotheistic,
with certain gods being viewed as superior to others by their specific devotees.
These devotees were often from a particular city or city-state that held that
deity as its patron deity, for instance the god Enki was often associated with
the city of Eridu, and the god Marduk was associated with Babylon.
The Mesopotamian gods bore many similarities with humans, and were
anthropomorphic, thereby having humanoid form. Similarly, they often acted like
humans, requiring food and drink, as well as drinking alcohol and subsequently
suffering the effects of drunkenness. In many cases, the various deities were
family relations of one another, a trait found in many other polytheistic
religions.

Some Mesopotamian Gods;

Adad or Ishkur -
god of storms, venerated as a supreme power especially in Syria and Lebanon

Anshur - head of
the Assyrian pantheon, regarded as the equivalent of Enlil

Anu or An - god of
heaven and the sky, lord of constellations, and father of the gods